Colors of Bravery

It was while reading the newspaper last week that I chanced upon this. There was a news item about how two 6-year-olds saved a baby from being gored by two bulls. My first thought was that I should probably write a story on this. But when I sat in front of the computer, with nothing but a white Word document in front of me, I realized that story writing was just not meant for me. Oh yeah, I could have written something, but it just wouldn’t have made the same kind of impact that I’d wanted. So, I dropped the whole idea of doing it myself, though any of you talented folks can pick up the idea and try developing it into a story, and I won’t sue you for intellectual property rights or copyright violation or any such stuff.

There are yearly bravery awards which India gives on its Republic Day to children who have shown exemplary courage. Isn’t it really wonderful to see these children doing super-human stuff? In fact, the Principal of the school in which these particular kids mentioned in the newspaper report study said it inspired the whole school, and every student there wanted to do something brave. What set me thinking is what happens to these kids when they grow up. Do they grow up being brave? Do the pressures and responsibilities associated with adult life work towards eroding this element from them? Interesting thought, isn’t it?

As a child, I realized life was very simple for me. There was right and there was wrong. There was good and there was bad. There was black and there was white. There was a clear idea of what is to be done and what is not to be done. Do right things, do good things, because that’s the only way acceptable to God was what was drilled in. As I grew, I slowly began to realize that some things which looked right to me wasn’t really right at all; what I felt was good wasn’t always that way. Suddenly, things weren’t crystal clear anymore; there was a blur. What was black and white earlier started taking an increasingly grayish hue. Things that I would have done enthusiastically earlier were thought through and abandoned most of the time. I felt that as I thought more about something, I started seeing all that was wrong in what I was planning to do. Fear of failure was the biggest impediment.

How do we sustain the bravery shown by these young children? There are going to be umpteen hurdles for them to cross in their lives, and it is absolutely necessary that they sustain the spirit that they showed so early in life. Even as we talk about these few souls who were recognized, let us not forget about the millions of other children who show great courage in living through testing circumstances in an attempt to ultimately triumph in life. Their journey, while less recognized, isn’t one bit lesser. But as a nation, do we do enough to sustain this spirit? No, I am not questioning the governments, I am questioning each of us. Will we, as parents or guardians, encourage our kids to do what these children did if we knew what they were going to do? Will we allow them to do it again if such a situation were to arise? If so, there is still hope, and I always believe in hoping for the best!